I have finally gotten brave and started cooking more. Yea, me!! However, the more I cook, the more I realize how little I know about basic stuff. Ugh. Oh well, onward and upward.
I have been making my mom's pinto beans. She always used bacon pieces in her beans and green beans and who knows what else. Anyway, I thought it a good idea to by a package. What the heck will I do with 3 pounds of it? I should freeze it, but shouldn't I separate it into smaller portions? If so, can I just throw some in some baggies and pop them in the freezer? Won't they get freezer burn?
What other culinary masterpieces can I use the pieces in?
Thank you for your help. Together, we can make a good cook out of me yet! ; )
Okay, I've divided it up into freezer bags and put them in the freezer. Eventually, I will learn to experiment on my own. I'm so afraid of not doing something "just right" the first time-- an ongoing issue I work on daily! Thanks mamas!!
Bean w/ bacon soup
Egg bake w/ bacon
Spinach salad w/ bacon bits & a sweet vinegarette
Bacon & cheddar cheese soup
Get out some freezer worthy ziplock bags and definitely freeze in portions. That's a lot of piggy :) and bacon goes a long way when using it for flavor.
On of my favorite bacon recipes is a bacon potatoe tort by Melissa D'arabia from the food network. Its sliced potatoes and cooked bacon covered in gryeure cheese and herb flavored cream topped with pie crust and baked. It sounds super hard and pricey because of the cheese but it is really easy to make and all her recipes cost $10 for a family of four.
Other than that one I use bacon wrapped around chicken breasts with paprika, white wine, onion and finishes with sour cream.
Bacon is most wonderful and adds a nice flavor to almost anything.
Check out the food network website and allrecipes.com. Both have tons of recipes and the FN site shows prep time and cook time.
Happy cooking !!!!
yes you can freeze the bacon bits...or do you not have it all cooked yet? If you don't have it cooked yet - break it up into smaller portions that you will use one at a time.
I've never had my bacon get freezer burn, but then again, we go through bacon here!!
Bacon bits in pasta salad - ranch dressing, sliced black olives and a dash of italian dressing....
a top baked potatoes, in potato soup, in omelets, in baked beans, oooh the things you can do!!!
have fun! let your mind and imagination wander!!!
Broccoli bacon salad
2 bunches of broccoli chopped
1 lb cooked bacon
1/4 or so of chopped onion -we like purple/red onion
Sauce,
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
combine and chill well before serving!!!!!
Remember bacon is cured, so it has a long life. I usually freeze the whole package and never had any trouble using it when I defrost. We roll the bacon around a hot and cook them together. Cut up into small pieces and toss into a green salad, pasta salad. I know you know BLT. My daughter's favorite way to eat them is the old fashion way; in cooked strips :) Enjoy!
Down the road, you can use the bacon in the following:
potato soup (which is super easy and CAN be healthy. I usually chop up a bunch of potatoes and sweet potatoes (since sweet potatoes are healthier), some celery, onion, sometimes garlic, and often I will add chopped kale, spinach and or cabbage, and add chicken or veggie broth, simmer till soft, then I will puree with an immersion blender or food processor and add salt & pepper to taste and bacon bits. It tastes creamy without added cream.
mashed sweet potatoes with bacon bits, chopped green onion, butter, salt, pepper and shredded cheddar mixed in
Add them on top of salads
mix in with meatloaf
Super good in breakfast potatoes. I like to saute up chopped potatoes, onion, peppers, bacon pieces and serve with salsa or ketchup.
saute with some chopped cabbage in a frying pan, and once the cabbage is soft, crack an egg on top, let it cook for a few minutes, add salt and pepper and serve. This is one of my favorite easy breakfasts.
Yes, freeze them in 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup baggies..
omelets, Breakfast tacos, Topper or salads. topper for baked potatoes.
Mix in with mashed potatoes, Add to gravy.
Bacon Pancakes are in style right now..
I bought a 3lb package of bacon pieces from costco this summer (bag lasted from July-end of Sept) . Here is what I made with it.
1) Included in scrambled eggs for breakfasts
2) Made many assorted veggie and bacon quiches
3) Had a weekly baked potatoe night for family dinners
4) Made Fettucini Carbanaro a few times
I did not freeze it and it was fine in the fridge per the directions on the bag... but I am sure that it will freeze great and then you won't be worried about trying to use it right away.
Ok now I want a 3 lb bag of bacon - yummmmm
Yes, separate the bacon. Either do uncooked in portions to be 1 meal for your family (probably a pound or less) or cook some of it and freeze it cooked. It is a lot easier to separate a few strips if it is cooked and then frozen. Squeeze out whatever air you can from the bag to decrease the freezer burn. Now I am craving bacon...
Personally, I'd pull out my electric skillet and cook them ALL at once. (NOTHING triggers an over eating binge like that bacon smell, so if I only havee to smell it anc clean it up ONCE that's good!) Cooked bacon will keep in ziplocks for almost forever in the fridge and for FOREVER in the freezer. Just pull it out whenever you need some. A little bit of bacon adds a LOT of flavor to a lot of dishes, so having it cooked and ready is a great short cut!
Next time you get some out of the freezer, fry some up really crispy, crumble it, and make a quiche!! We call it egg pie in our house. My kids ate it up lots when they were kids, and always was excited when I said we were having egg pie. Quiche, not so much. You could also put it in baked beans, or a salad. Or make egg & bacon sandwiches for dinner!!
You can microwave bacon and put it in salads, potatoes, all kinds of foods.
My mom was the worst meat cook in the world...she did not like meat pink. She would buy the cheapest round steak and beat it with meat tenderizer on it until it was about 2 times bigger around the burn it in the broiler. For Shake-N-Bake chicken she would buy the little thighs and bake them according to the instructions. She would cut into the meat and if ANYTHING drained out she cooked them longer, like hockey puck long....I can't even begin to tell you about her bacon....
So I didn't like meat until I really started cooking it and learning more about it from my friends. Microwaving bacon gets so much of the grease out, if cooked on paper towels. I find that it's soft and I can eat it and enjoy.
Sausage is my favorite meat, she thought sausage gave you cholera so she never cooked it. Therefore I never had it cooked horribly.
This past summer while on vacation we stopped in a candy and fudge store that had chocolate-covered bacon! We tried some and it was really, really good! If you dig that salty-sweet combo like I do, you might want to give it a try! You just need some of the same chocolate that you melt, dip fruit in, and then it hardens as it cools.
My wife uses bacon pieces in the cream cheese filling for jalapeno poppers.
We use bacon pieces in chef's salads. or on baked potatoes, or in twice baked potatoes.
In beans we use diced onions, green and others.
Look on allrecipes.com for recipes that use bacon pieces.
Good luck to you and yours.
mmm bacon yummy! I love bacon! I eat bacon a lot...as for bacon pieces, as you did do already--freezing them--great! You could use them on top of salad's. You could use them in eggs (yes!). I use to buy the bacon packages from Costco, take out a package and use it for the week for breakfast and then freeze the rest.
I tried using Google for your question here is the link...http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&sourc...
there are some good links on there!
Good luck!
pop them into smaller ziplock bags and then put the bunch of small bags into either a ziplock box or a gallon size bag. I use bacon for lots of stuff. one of my kids current favorites is to make velveta and shells add about a half lb of bacon pieces and a can of mexican corn (small can of corn with bits of peppers) my kids love it.
